Virgin Worlds

It has always been our policy as a company to accept and read unsolicited submissions from previously unpublished authors. We intend to continue that tradition with Virgin Worlds. We can't promise to commission anyone, and we nay take some time to get back to you, but if you snedin a submission which conforms to these guidelines then it will be given fair reading.

What we don't want:

• Epic sub-Tolkienesque fantasy sagas.
• Cyberspace as a theme rather than a background detail.
• Dystopias - there's almost nothing to say about them that hasn't already been said in hundreds of eighties books and films. Eighties preoccpuations in general aren't acceptable; Nineties preoccupaions are only a little more so. Think new.
• Slasher Horror.

Generally, we'd like books that are post-millenial rather than millenial. And we don't want new takes on old ideas or even on fairly new ideas. We won't spend much time considering anthing like The Sword of Shannara, for instance; Neuromancer has been plagiarised to death. If you can come up with a sufficiently innovative approach to any of the above then we'll consider it - but it had better be nothing short of a masterpiece.

What we do want:

• Mainstream fantasy, SF and psychological horror - but of a fresh and original variety.
• What's sometimes called slipstream material: Magical realism, techno-thrillers, etc. If Iain Banks had brought us The Wasp Factory (chance would be a fine thing) we like to think we'd have published it. Likewise, Mr Vertigo, A Clockwork Orange, Lanark, Slaughterhouse Five, anything by Phillip K. Dick, maybe even Trainspotting. We would have loved Consider Phlebas. Anything whose take on reality is just a little slanted from the norm.
• Length between 85 and 130 thousand words.

The bottom line is that we want to publish what you want to write - as long as it's very good indeed. It's impossible to over-emphasise the improtance of quality: when launching a new imprint there's only one chance to impress, and we need to kick off with one or more supernovae within the fiction galaxy. Books that are merely readable, fun and well written won't be good enough. Virgin Worlds is a terrific brand name - but after the launch, it will only be as good as the books we've published under it.

It's worth bearing in mind that in Virgin's fiction department the editors have certain preferences. We think that the Virgin Worlds name suggests innovation, freshness and adventure, and we'll tend to look for those attributes in book proposals. We prefer character-driven stories to novels based on plots or abstract ideas. We like to publish books that are readable, and plenty of page-turning quality; therefore we tend to be wary of writing that is pretentious, complex or experimental. None of these warnings should be taken as an inflexible rule; but if you want us to consider a novel that contains little excitement, uses well-known story devices within a traditional genre, was conceived to explicate a theory, and is written in a particularly dense style, then it's going to have to be something very special indeed.

• In the first instance, we need to see a detailed plot synopsis of the entire novel and about 10,000 words of sample text. Only if we like that will we ask for the complete manuscript.
• If, should it prove unsuitable, you'd like your manuscript returned, please include stamps or IRCs to cover the cost of postage.
• You'll be sent a letter to acknowledge receipt; only if you don't receive this within 2 weeks of sending in your manuscript should you phone us to enquire about it.
• Appended to this document are notes on setting out you submission. Please pay attention to thme. Any manuscript failing to conform to our house style will be sent straight back.

Finally, please remember that we are at the moment looking for two or three exceptionally brilliant novels. Even when the Virgin Worlds imprint is established, our rate of publishing is likely to accelerate only slowly and we may never work up to the two books per month production line that is our Doctor Who publishing schedule.

Most people can expect to receive a rejection. This doesn't necessarily mean there's anthing wrong with your book, just that it isn't right for us. We expect to be deluged with submissions, so we'll be unable to povide a detaile critique of proposals we turn down. We hate having to send stark, one-line rejections of books into which people have put months of work, but it's the price we have to pay for accepting and reading unsolicited material.

Even if you book is very good indeed we probably won't be able to commission it immediately or even soon. So take your time, and when you're sure you've got something magnificent to share with the world - share it with us.

PRESENTATION

• Use a high-quality typewriter or computer printer.
• Print on one side only of clean A4 paper.
• Leave wide margins around the text, at the top, at the bottom, and on either side.

HOUSE STYLE

• Start each new chapter on a new page.
• Begin the first line of a chapter, or of a section within a chapter, full out to the margin. This goes for speech as well as narrative. Indent the first line of all other paragraphs.
• Leave spaces between lines (to allow space for editorial comments and corrections). Do not leave any extra space between paragraphs - simply indent them. Leave an extra line space to indicate breaks between sections. If and only if a section break occurs at the bottom of a page, insert a row of asterisks.
• Do not insert a space before punctuation marks (except dashes), nor double spaces after them.
• In chapter headings, capitalise the first letter of every word. but not 'small' words. i.e. articles, conjunctions and prepositions, unless they are the first in the clause.
• 'Use single quotation marks, like this, to indicate speech,' said the editor, 'and where necessary use double quotes. "in this manner", within them.'
• Do not use stops for titles (Dr, Mr, Mrs) or acronyms, nor for abbreviations which end with the final letter of the long form of the word (e.g. Jr - Junior), or commonly used shortenings (kilo - kilogram, OBE, lab - laboratory, etc.). (But do for etc. )
• As a rule, write out numbers (cardinal and ordinal) up to twenty in full but use numerals for greater figures (21, 22, 23...). Round numbers above twenty (eighty, fifteen hundred) and approximate figures may also be written out in full. Specific cases may call for different treatment.
• Time: use a stop between hours and minutes where the time is given numerically (11.25). Where ante-/post-meridian is specified, render thus: 3 a.m., 4.45 p.m. Write out 'eight o'clock' in full. Remember: twelve o'clock noon (neither a.m. nor p.m.).
• Date: cardinal followed by month. so 7 February 1970.
• Years: give in small capitals (AD 1675: 1.000,000 BC).
• Underline to indicate italicisation. Italicise titles of books, plays, TV shows, Films, paintings, classical compositions and ship names. Use single quotation marks around names of songs and short poems (double within speech). Italicise all foreign words (bar proper names) not listed in English dictionaries. Mark labels, notices, etc. by small capital letters: 'They left through the door marked EXIT.' Long extracts of handwriting or text may be marked in italics or by indenting the quoted text.

Hyphens

• Whether or not you should hyphenate compound words depends on the word and the dictionary you use, so choose one authority and stick to it.
• Adjectives and adverbs: as a rule, combinations of adjectives and adverbs should not be hyphenated, so 'the brightly lit room (not 'brightly-lit'). The only exceptions are those adverbs that are also adjectives: well ill, hard, etc. These should be hyphenated when the adverb-adjective combination precedes the noun. So 'The well-adjusted editorial assistant', but 'The editorial assistant was ill fated'.
• The same goes for compound verbs and adverbs. 'He was a spaced-out hippy', but 'Man, you're spaced out'; and 'I'm an out-of-work actor', but 'An actor, out of work?
• Verbs using the prefix 're-' or 'de-' that are not listed in the dictionary should not generally take a hyphen, unless the verb they are attached to begins with an e, or if omission could give rise to confusion. So: rehydrogenate, but re-elucidate, re-cover (to avoid confusion with 'recover').

Punctuation marks

• Use suspension points (...) to indicate unfinished sentences. Otherwise they should be used sparingly, and strictly only in speech. They should not act as a substitute for description, or as a sign of a pause.
• Use an en-dash (-) to indicate speech that has broken off or been interrupted: close it up to the previous letter if the break occurs within a word, but leave a space if the break occurs between words. Do not insert a space between the speechmark and the dash.
• In general, we recommend standard punctuation as far as possible.

Non-standard typefaces

• The most common instances in which italics and upper case letters are mis- and overused are for emphasis (She did not want a cup of tea), to indicate shouting ('STOP!!!' he bellowed), and in onomatopoeic words (The stone hit with a loud crack!). Avoid these.
• Characters' thoughts: much of the action in our books will be narrated from the viewpoint of one of the characters anyway, so there should rarely be need to relate their meditations verbatim. If the need does arise, we forbid speechmarks, and strongly discourage italics, particularly when it is obvious that the character is thinking because a verb of thought is present. In general, try to use forms such as: 'This isn't right, She thought' or 'Peter struck him and he fell. What a bastard', or 'This set Arabel wondering: what will it be like?' Confining thoughts to paragraphs of their own is another way round the problem. Sometimes, inevitably, there will be no verb to signal thought. In these cases, which we'd like to keep to a minimum, italics are probably essential to distinguish narrated fact from character opinion.

Spelling

• Do not use too many contractions (he'll, won't, should've). They are more acceptable in speech than in narrative. Minimise 'have' contractions. Double contractions (he'd've) are definitely out.
• Do not attempt to indicate a character's class, dialect or region by using non-standard spellings in speech or, worse, in reported thought or ordinary narrative. Spellings such as ''ere' for 'here', 'awright' for 'all right' and 'shaddup' for 'shut up' are only justifiable if the character is a comic stereotype and the implication is that he/she does not speak correct English. Feel free to use slang within speech, but not in the narrative.
• Do not use capitals when referring to people's ranks or jobs unless for a very good reason. The chief exception to this is when a rank is used with the name or as part of the term of address. So 'The general took his seat', but 'General Grant was tired' and "'Yes, my Queen.'" Reigning monarchs may also take initial capitals when referred to without their name, but only with 'the'. So 'The role of a queen is to spend taxpayers money'. Similarly, 'sir' and 'madam' should be in lower case, save at the top of a letter.

• Make sure when you use related clauses that the subject of both sentences is the same. A frequent error made is as follows: 'Barbara enjoyed tending her marmosets. Walking to the reserve one day, the clouds were looking ominous.' The actual meaning here is that it is the clouds that are walking to the reserve. This calls for a rewrite that introduces the other subject - perhaps ' While she was walking to the reserve. . .'
• Many people overuse the present participle ('-ing'). When used in coordination with another verb, it can only mean that the two actions are taking place simultaneously: it does not mean that one occurred after the other. So 'Leaping to my feet. I ran after her' is impossible and should be avoided.
• Do not confuse 'lay' and 'lie'. 'Lie' is an intransitive verb meaning 'prostrate oneself or be prostrate'. 'Lay' is transitive, and means 'set [a thing] down'. So 'He was laying on the bed with his eyes shut' is incorrect. NB: the preterite of 'lie' is, regrettably, 'lay'.
• 'Its' is the possessive of 'it'; 'it's' is the contraction of 'it is or 'it has'.

Commas

• Commas should rarely if ever be used to join two main clauses. Use a conjunction. A semicolon, colon or full stop. So 'She turned up her collar, no one could see her neck' is wrong; substitute a semicolon for the comma or add a conjunction.
• Commas do not always denote a pause in speech. Sometimes they are grammatically essential even though there may be little or no spoken interval. Common omissions of a comma where one is obligatory: 'Use a comma_ you idiot!'; 'Rebecca_ stop that'; 'This tastes gorgeous_ doesn't it?'
• When used parenthetically, i.e. to make a point in the middle of another statement, there must be a comma after the inserted point as well as before it. So 'When she awoke, her eyes hazy with sleep_ she realised he had gone' needs a comma.
• Incorrect use of commas can confuse the reader and sometimes affect the meaning of a sentence. It is particularly important to get it right between main and subordinate clauses. 'He kicked me viciously crying out her name' is ambiguous - is the kicking or the crying vicious? Similar ambiguity is present in 'John Travolta watched the senior citizen rocking in the corner', but this needs more than a comma for clarification.
• Only end speech with a comma when the following verb is a verb of speech. People cannot 'smile' or 'nod' sentences, and the following is particularly wrong: 'I really think you ought to stop that,' he got out of his chair, 'because it's annoying me.' 'Use en dashes to break up speech, like this' - he spun round, his eyes bulging - 'or die!'

A final point

It's not an unbreakable rule, but the excuse had better be good if you're going to break it: each scene should be narrated from the viewpoint of only one character!

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